


Bad Habit

by TheLonelyJournalKeeper



Series: Her Family [2]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Canon Compliant, Drabble, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Friendship, Gen, IPRE Era, Male-Female Friendship, Minor Injuries, No Romance, One Shot, Swearing, Team Bonding, Team Dad Merle, Team as Family, The Stolen Century, they're both very awkward ppl i love them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-16
Updated: 2017-06-16
Packaged: 2018-11-14 20:33:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11215773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLonelyJournalKeeper/pseuds/TheLonelyJournalKeeper
Summary: In which Lucretia is known to repeatedly work too hard and Merle is getting concerned.





	Bad Habit

**Author's Note:**

> Lucretia is Non-Stop! I love her and Merle's dynamic. Probably because they're Team Mom and Team Dad.

Lucretia peered into the ship’s infirmary. “Merle?” To her surprise, he was actually there. The reason for this soon became obvious. He was taking care of the plants in pots suspended from the ceiling. Officially, they were there for medicinal purposes, but unofficially, they were more of a hobby of Merle’s. 

Taking his lack of reply as permission to enter, Lucretia stepped inside. “I can’t feel my fingers.”

“Eh, what?” Merle looked up from a flowering vine Lucretia remembered picking up a few cycles ago.

“I can’t feel my fingers,” Lucretia repeated, holding out her hands. She could still move them fine, but her fingers had gone totally numb.

“Shit, really? Again?” Merle said. 

“Yes,” Lucretia said, somewhat abashed. She was fairly certain she was the only one on the Starblaster who came to Merle complaining about _carpal tunnel syndrome_ instead of say, _Shit, I accidentally sent myself or someone else on fire! Merle, help!_ Though on second thought, perhaps that wasn’t such a bad thing. 

“Alright,” Merle said, shrugging. “Give me your hands.” 

She did, reluctantly. Nothing against Merle, she just didn’t like being touched most of the time. His hands were warm and a bit calloused with some dirt smudged on them from tending to the plants.

He murmured something under his breath and his hands glowed gold briefly. The feeling returned to Lucretia’s hands and she withdrew them cautiously, flexing her fingers slightly to ensure everything was in working order.

“Thank you,” she said, letting her hands fall to her sides.

“Yeah, no problem,” Merle said. “But I gotta say, this is starting to become a bad habit of yours, Lucretia. What’s your writing posture like?”

“My writing posture?” Lucretia said. She mimed holding a pen with each hand. “It’s fine.” 

“Yeah, I’ve seen you write,” Merle said, turning back to one of his plants. “You’ve got textbook writing posture, so I guess that’s not it. How long have you been writing today?”

“I’ve been working on this particular project since lunch,” she answered.

“Did you take any breaks?”

“No.” 

“It’s eight o’clock at night,” he said. “Didn’t you eat dinner?” 

“Merle, you’re a cleric and ship’s medic, not a real doctor,” she said, exasperated. 

He looked offended. “Well, did you?”

“Yes, of course. I brought it into my quarters so I could continue working.”

“You do this sort of shit often?”

“Well, yes, it is my _job_ , Merle,” she replied.

He ignored that in favor of spritzing some water onto a large spiky plant. “Well, I guess that would do it. You should take breaks more often.”

“I suppose that’s true,” she conceded. “But I don’t like to waste time. There’s so much that needs doing.”

“It’s not wasting time to take care of yourself,” Merle said. 

Lucretia smiled slightly. “You’re like a father without children.”

Merle laughed. “Don’t I know it? Did you know Magnus called me ‘dad’ one time?” 

“Oh God. How did that go over?”

“Well, I thought it was hilarious.”

“I see.”

“Magnus didn’t see the humor in it,” Merle added. “Maybe that’s because Taako and Lup wouldn’t stop laughing at him for five minutes.” 

“Ah. That sounds about right,” Lucretia said, wondering if she should take her leave now. 

“Why don’t you come adventuring with us more often?” Merle said suddenly.

“Is that an invitation or an inquiry?” Lucretia asked. 

“Both!” Merle said. “Like we were saying, you should take more breaks from writing and you don’t wanna waste time so why not come exploring with us? It’s never a dull moment, I’ll tell you that.” 

“So you’re saying to avoid a minor injury to my hands I should join you on one of your dangerous quests to find the Light or fight monsters or whatever it is that you do,” she deadpanned. 

“Well, it was just a suggestion.”

“Merle, that was a joke.” 

“Was it?” he said. “We need to work on that.”

“It’s a good idea,” Lucretia decided. “I’ll keep what you’ve said in mind. Thank you.” She turned to leave the infirmary. 

“Hey, no problem. Just don’t go back to your room and write. I’m not made of spell slots, you know!”

She smiled and waved over her shoulder, walking back down the corridor. She hadn’t been lying when she’d said it was a good idea. She’d have to give the matter some serious thought. 


End file.
